Thursday, January 10, 2008

Laughing At U Dub

It was reported today that a University of Washington booster sent the school an e-mail pledging $200,000 to the school. As a law school graduate he was going to give $100,000 to the law school and then the other half of the donation was going somewhere else within the school. (Read the details here.) I find it very nice and admirable to pledge such a significant amount of money to one’s alma mater. There is no chance I would ever do that. I just hope I get the chance to never do that!

There are only a couple of conditions this booster placed on his pledge. The donation to the law school was dependent on the athletic director being fired and the other $100,000 would be handed over if the head coach were fired. My first reaction was, “Wow, having such an over-the-top booster is just what UW deserves.” Then, I simply laughed and thanked my lucky stars that my alma mater doesn’t have the same type of crazy booster.

Only one problem, fans of the UO are the only fans in America that can’t laugh at the ludicrous news coming out of Seattle. When I went to one of my favorite blogs, written by the esteemed Rob Moseley, I came across his entry concerning the brilliance of the UW booster. He mentioned that he felt sorry for UO’s athletic director if he had to deal with these types of e-mails. That is when I stopped laughing at UW. Why? The UO has a booster running its athletic department. He isn’t offering to donate money based on who is employed by the school. He is the one handing out employment.

Everyone knows UO’s athletic director paid the multiple millions to get rid of the previous athletic director then months later ended up taking the job himself. Whatever you think of that situation, facts are facts. As lame as the UW booster is, he in no way has the type of influence UO boosters have. So I find it highly hypocritical for UO fans to loathe in the insanity of UW boosters.

Back to UW. The law school is reportedly receiving $100,000 due to the fact that the athletic director “resigned” effective January 31. There does not appear to be a link between this and the e-mail but you have to love the world of college sports. People donate money when someone that has not met expectations or is incompetent gets fired. Can you imagine how much money other public entities would make if they received additional money for firing these types of employees?!